Give to Take
by Pereprin
Summary: Sarah struggles to fit into the college life that she's made for herself, but remains trapped in doubt. The events long passed exist only as fractured dreams until a grave mistake sends her back to a world she can't remember and a king who cannot forget.
1. Give to Take

No memories, no rules, and no words to save her. Sarah must take on the Labyrinth and face the Goblin King once again to take back what was stolen. This time, however, Jareth has very different plans for the girl who got away.

---

I've never finished a story.

I'm hoping to break that streak.

I don't own **The Labyrinth **or any of its characters with their little dance numbers and googly eyes. Or David Bowie. Damn shame.

Watch out for language. OH NOES!

* * *

**Give to Take**

Her roommate had been awake all night, tending to a needy long distance boyfriend with little concern for Sarah's fragile brain as she spent hours buried in notes and the same godforsaken text book. After six rounds of Gatorade, four Coca Cola's, two Hershey's bars and two cups of the swill their student center called coffee, she found that her ability to absorb information suffered greatly. Her temper only grew hotter and hotter as her roommate's sing-songy voice scraped against the inside of her head like nails on hell's chalkboard. Sarah typically didn't mind the rather inconsiderate phone habits. After all, there was only their room phone to share between them and the pay phone on the first floor was hardly the ideal place to carry on a personal conversation. But this was simply one of those nights where she cursed herself for filling out that box on her housing application. A single may have been the lonelier option, but she was certain she wouldn't have ever found herself considering murder so seriously as she did now.

Try as she might, her eyes simply wouldn't move from the single equation they'd found at the top of the page. She hoped it would just jump off the paper and burn itself into her head along with other formulas that she'd managed to corral into her pathetically sparse arsenal of knowledge. For some reason, that introductory physics class had seemed like a capitol idea. It was supposed to be all numbers and common sense, not crying fits and sleepless nights. Gravity, inertia, force and motion... the bloody universe. The course was full of numerical mysteries just as she had expected, but there had been no mention of this kind of mental pain on the syllabus.

_Get in my brain, damnit. Get in my__** brain**_

Sarah commanded the equation with all the mental power she could muster. Try as she might, it was just a few numbers and letters with squiggly lines. No significance. No unlockable secrets. No redeeming traits. No social skills. No-

"Oh my God, Greg! You're crowding me, okay? Distance doesn't matter, I can't handle it when you're all, like 'Oh, Amy, I just need you so bad!' What am I supposed to do? You're like, ten hours away!"

The twitch was back and Sarah had had enough. The mercy well had dried up and her repertoire of good metaphors disappeared. Sarah slammed her palms down, shaking the desk lamp with the force of it. Amy had either missed or ignored the rattling, but Sarah didn't give a flying fuck. There was no room in her mind for rational thought amidst the sea of sugar and unused electrolytes.

"Amy, get the FUCK out of here before I take that phone and shove it down your throat. So help me, I'll do it."

Amy's face fell so quickly that Sarah was rather taken aback by the effect of her own heated threat. She felt a twinge of regret as Greg's muffled voice chirped on the other end, confused. Her roommate had all her feelings in the right place, but she simply wasn't the most aware person she had ever met. In fact, she pretty much had permanent residence in the bottom of the barrel. Still, judging from the look on Amy's face, Sarah figured she might have achieved the same effect with a sucker punch. Amy slammed the phone onto the receiver without a word of goodbye to Greg and put her hands on her hips.

"What makes you think you can talk to me that way?" her words were softer than Sarah had expected. It made it somewhat worse... she'd have preferred a screaming match right about now. The caffeine needed to escape. Somehow. But Sarah kept a level eye and stern face, determined to stand her ground.

_Alright, time to assert yourself. Do that... that thing you do. Or something. My face itches._

"You know what? I thought I could look past your shit because you just kind of keep to yourself... and that's fine, whatever. But oh my God, you have something going on in your cracked-out head that I want nothing to do with. And here you go, screaming at me and... you know what? I'm not going to take it. No. You can just fuck off."

Sarah opened her mouth to say something... anything to help her get past the blow she'd received. Amy was out the door with her keys and a fuck-you slam before Sarah had even really register the weight of it. Hopes of studying fizzled as she slumped back in her chair, reeling.

It was true, though. For the most part.

She had friends. Some. Well, she thought they were friends. Not that they ever hung out in her dorm room or anything, but they always said their hello's and goodbye's in class or in passing. That aside, she never really had anyone who had intimately known her. Whether or not that was of her own doing was beyond her at this point in time. She'd survived her first year with passing grades, but nothing quite so stellar as to warrant a congratulatory phone call from back home or increased respect with the friends that really didn't exist. The kicker was that this wasn't out of the ordinary, but more of a continuation of the bleakness of high school. Nothing had been right for the past few years and she had herself convinced that a change of scenery was necessary. Her school counselors had fed her the same enthusiastic assurances, convincing her that a year could make all the difference.

That year came and went and all she noticed was the growing sense of failure that surrounded her. These were supposed to be the years where everything turned right side up. She was supposed to come out of her shell, or blossom, or do some kind of coming-of-age dance. Instead, she found herself struggling with her classes and alone ninety percent of the time. She'd been to one party earlier in the year and managed to drink herself into a stupor and embarrassed herself by throwing up on some poor guy's shoes. Sarah hadn't touched any alcohol since.

There was supposed to be more to this. There was supposed to be some glorious thought revolution or social triumph and instead, she felt hollow. Sleep had once been an adventure of the subconscious, a tapestry of fantasy that weaved itself so perfectly she could almost reach out and touch the fibers. It was as though those nights had been spent in the waking world and each gremlin she outwitted and every blaggard she dueled had a presence as real and tangible as her own.

Now there were no dreams. Sleep had become a dreaded duty to her body where her mind simply went silent and left her in suspended animation. There were no foreign lands to explore or great battles to be fought out in the vast expanses of her unlimited imagination. As far as she knew, there was no imagination left. It explained the failed endeavors in theatre and creative writing. It explained why she so haphazardly switched majors from the freedom of the arts to the precision of math and science. Sarah had no stories left to tell. Sarah had no conviction in the roles she played or the lines she read. Every audition felt like a mockery. Each persona she tried to embody felt distant, as though evading her grasp. It was as though she could do no justice and every creative thought had shunned her. She was an imposter with no place in the world of dreams and passion.

Amy's words still rang in her ears as she drew her knees up to her chin and hugged her legs tightly to her. She let her eyes roll down to her feet, finding a small comfort in her mismatched socks. The scrunched up cotton faces of the tiny tigers faced the tight-lipped monkeys and simply remained there. Another Sarah would have found more in something so trivial. She was sure of it. There had to be some fodder for even the most silly of day dreams. But all Sarah could focus on was the gaping hole between her big toe and the long one. Her eyes had practically locked onto the frayed threads with mild interest. It disgusted her.

_Time for air._

Sarah had rather the abandoned the notion of studying as she rose from her chair to fetch her jacket. She pulled up her zipper as she looked out the window, shivering at the sight of the now-falling snow. Perhaps the bitter cold would break her our of her funk, or maybe she'd simply find serenity in the peaceful silence of the snow. Hell, she'd try naked yoga if it would simply help her feel less shitty.

_I wonder if we've got a naked yoga class... _She decided not to think much more on it, realizing that, soon after she thought on it, that it would be a rather bad idea. Horribly bad... idea.

Two boots, two mittens and one scarf later, Sarah looked ready for an idle midnight snow walk. Pajama pants included. She snatched up her keys before shutting the door behind her and made her way down the main staircase... then out and into one bitch of a blizzard.

---

Sarah's body exploded into one giant tingly sensation as her face was pelted with chunks of snow. Her eyes widened at the sudden shock of it, surprised by the ferocity of the storm. Minutes ago, it had been a thick, but gentle flow. Now it was as though the sky was constantly vomiting wave after wave of ice and snow. It was just plain fierce.

"Oh fuck _**this", **_she heaved a sigh and ventured out from under the covered doorway, searching for any remnants of the concrete path. The snow had formed another layer of the earth, effectively hiding all traces of the sidewalk. The street lights appeared dim behind the curtain of white, too weak to shine through the weight of the ice. Sarah frowned, almost certain that the power wouldn't last the night. No weather channels had mentioned any predictions of a storm or anything of this magnitude.

Her resolve kicked in as she pursed her lips and pulled her scarf up to cover her mouth and nose. If she couldn't have a little night walk, then she would have some shitty coffee. And by God, she would drink it. All of it. Sarah could just make out the student center dead ahead. She could have made it there blind on a good day and felt confident enough to manage it on a crappy night such as this.

Only a few yards later did she find herself a little disoriented from plowing her way through the snowfall. It came up to her knees and gave her one hell of a time, even in her boots. _I think my loans get cancelled if I die before I graduate..._ The idea actually surprised it. It was oddly morose, even for her... and the sudden realization that she could suddenly be buried alive under feet of snow added a little more purpose to her efforts. When she came to the halfway point, she looked up for the glowing sign that would lead her on to the student center, her eyes could focus on nothing but the constant snow fall surrounding her. She felt a slight sting of fear, but dismissed it swiftly. _Must not be as far ahead as I thought. Just have to keep going._

But it was cold. Cold and hard and she missed her warm dorm room very badly. Coffee just wasn't enough motivation when she considered how awesome it would be to tuck herself into bed at that very moment.

_Change of plans. It's bed time._

She turned around, throwing her previous plan to the wind as she trudged back in the direction of her dorm. With yet another goal in mind, she found the strength to find a quicker pace and push through the snow. She reached for her key and looked up, reaching for the door. _Fuck Amy, fuck coffee, fuck physics, fuck chem- _

Instead of a door, she found air. Instead of a building, she found snow. Instead of relief, she was seized by panic.

"Oh shit," she whispered, the words lost on the gust of wind that blew her hair out of her jacket and sent snowflakes into her eyes. It stung and she stumbled backwards, rubbing at her eyes as the cold pierced her very skin. She struggled to right herself as a new burst of air came at her from behind and caught her off guard, sending her suddenly to her knees where the snow nearly enveloped her. The force of it was like a punch in the gut, leaving her breathless for a moment as she fought to regain her composure. There was a growing terror within her that she only just barely held at bay. Rational thought had not quite abandoned her yet and gave her the reason needed for keeping herself somewhat calm.

It was waning. And fast.

The feeling in her limbs had decreased rapidly as the temperature plummeted. The snow would freeze soon and so would she if she didn't act fast. But there lay the problem. She could barely move by now and she wasn't even sure which direction was the right direction. It was a large campus and offices were closed by now. Even the student center would have shut down for the night by now. There had to be some kind of campus security about. Maybe the snow patrol. If there even was such a thing. She knew well enough that you weren't supposed to move too much if you were lost in the snow, that you were more likely to be found if you kept to one location.

But if she stayed here much longer, there wouldn't be a whole lot to find other than a very dead, very frozen girl. And she very much wanted to panic.

_Don't panic, _she held her hands together, urging the stiff digits to warm each other with whatever heat they had left. She couldn't imagine there was much.

_Don't panic, don't panic, _she crossed her eyes squinting at the white shards dangling in front of face. She lifted a shaking hand to touch it, noting it's stiffness. She pulled, vaguely feeling a tug at her own scalp. Her stomach lurched as her whole body shivered too hard for her to think straight.

_Don't panic don't panic don't panic, oh __**God**__, don't panic, _her hand shuddered so hard that it snapped the very piece of frozen hair she was holding.

There was no reason anymore, only the faithless prayers her lips couldn't speak. She urged friends and family in jumbled thoughts to come to her and take her away from the fear and the cold, but she was answered with their silence. She even screamed out loud for some kind of savior. Who, exactly, she knew not. The plea was swallowed up by the wind along with the memory of whatever she had said. It was lost now to the darkness and frigid expanse. She reached back into the place of hysteria, where unfinished thoughts and broken memories lay in chaotic heaps with no means to decipher them or even find their source. It was a place of madness she knew once, but now only regarded as a place of wasted time.

Blue lips strained to form the words, as the thoughts seemed to speak for themselves, "G-g-giv-v-ve them-m b-b-back...g-give b-back wha-t-t y-you have... s-s-stolen... "

It was as if a piece of her very brain was crumbling into bits, leaving a raw, gaping hole where it once was. Through it came the madness and its own voice, dancing inside her skull.

_Really, now. It takes nothing short of death itself to get through to you._

Sarah pushed through the growing fog that choked at her thoughts and scrambled to answer, "I h-have t-to s-save-"

_No, no. Can't do anything 'bout that. You've already played your game, remember? You bested him and won! It's all said and done with._

"M-more to... b-b-be d-d-one..."

_The old way won't work, you know. That door is gone and it's all been reset. Even if you do find a way back, it won't be a game. It'll be for real and there'll be no rules for him to follow. You did so well the last time, why not just leave it at that?_

"F-f-for m-me..." Sarah coughed. Each intake of breath made her feel as though she was inhaling daggers. She would have rather stopped altogether had there not been other reasons to keep up such a basic function.

_Well, if you must, then you must. But the words are yours to find. I can merely remind you that there are, indeed, words. Can't be much more help than that. If there were others, it'd be easier. It's a shame you've let such a great number of us go. It's been rather lonely, being the last... Ah, time is a merciless thing. But, if this is what you truly want, you had better hurry and speak it. Or, well... perhaps think a bit on it first. Say them aloud once you figure you've done it all right. Best not waste energy, now. _

_Think them? _Her own voice rang clearly in her head.

_Perfect!_

At once, she felt welcome in her own mind, finding a strange comfort in the voice that had taken up such a conversational tone with her.

_There are words, right? Words I've said before?_

_Yeah, s'right! But they won't work again. It's not a game, remember?_

_What am I saying?_

_No, no! Don't go and think about it that way again! You'll get no where and you've not much time to spare by the looks of things._

_But I just don't remember..._

_Then ask for what you want now._

_How?_

_You know how. And I was rather serious about the time. You've got very little left. Well - none, really._

_How do I remember?_

_Best not ask me... You're better off just taking a crack at it. You waste to much time otherwise._

_I don't..._

She knew. It wasn't in her inventory of knowledge or the dark recesses of her own hopelessness. It was there, nestled somewhere between her heart and the last flickering light left in that long-forgotten place in her mind.

Sarah drew a rattling breath, "I w-wish..." and held it fast as her body stilled under the blanket of snow. Her lips quivered, forcing the air through them with every ounce of power left within her. It felt like the most difficult task in the world, uttering those words, and she knew there were not enough to finish what had to be done.

She called on the power.

"I c-could... "

_C'mon, c'mon! There's not a moment to spare!_

There was more to it there, teasingly close as it wavered at her fingertips- just out of reach. It seemed so simple, so easy to grasp but she couldn't get a hold of that final piece of the puzzle, the last part of the equation. There was no way to put it into place without her own power, and that had failed her miserably against the pervasive cold and elusive thought. She wanted to know it with all her heart. Every fiber of her being reached out for the tiny filament that beckoned every wall she had every build around herself to come crashing down. She would have let it, too. Gladly.

Her mind went silent, save for the quiet buzz of some distant noise. Something silly, something formless, something undoubtedly part of the end. It was as if the circuits were already shorting out and leaving behind nothing but softness and quiet. There was warmth.

Then the world fell away.

---

_This is the second draft and probably the final of this chapter. I think I'm ready to get going with the second chapter after I take care of a few things. This whole job thing is getting in the way of mah fictions. _

_Thanks to the handful who have given me some attention, especially Yodeladyhoo for her wonderfully constructive feedback. ROCKIN ME SOCKS OFF_


	2. Suppose We Fall

It's taken me a while to get motivated and finish this chapter, but I think I know where I want to go with this. It's a little shorter than I intended... whoops. Oh well.

I'm gradually getting into the swing of things and hope interest grows along the way.

Now, I gave the story a general M rating for language and a few other things I've got planned for the future.

Oh yeah... Since I didn't make this too clear in the description, I'll spell it out for the rest of you:

J X S

Damn straight.

**Suppose We Fall**

There was that overwhelming silence, the kind that pushes against your ears and worms its way inside until you swear you can hear the void. It's as though you can hear the very oxygen quivering with energy, anticipating the noise to come. But it never does.

It didn't come for Sarah, either. Her own heartbeat startled her with its alarming stillness. She knew it had to be pumping since she was obviously still alive and breathing regularly. Well, of that she was fairly certain. Though she couldn't hear the steady rush of her own breath, she was quite positive that there was a deflating sensation in her chest. But that eerie quiet defied her very existence. It was one thing not to be heard by others, left to live as a ghost… but silent even to oneself was a whole other thing.

One thing was for sure, there was some piece of her left and it was just strong enough to bring her round to the strange reality of it all. She stood in her dorm room, shrouded in darkness. Amy was nowhere to be found. Even the hall light had been turned off, which was almost constantly present. The only light came from the window where the clouds had parted to reveal a small patch of faint starlight. It softened the room, casting a blanket of gray over it all. The storm had died down considerably and the clouds were floating steadily across the sky, revealing pieces of the night sky as they passed. The moon still remained cloaked in a thick layer of clouds, but the sliver light struggled to break free of the mist.

_This shouldn't be._

Her own thoughts startled her into awareness as they shattered the silence, even as they remained unspoken… existing only in her mind. It was just enough of a jump start to remind her of just how wrong her situation was. There was no proof of the journey back to her dorm. She couldn't even remember getting up out of the snow. There was simply static where memories should have been. And the ever-present cold. She seemed dry enough, but the chill had sunk into her very bones. Even the still warmth of her room couldn't chase away the bitterness that made her yearn for a raging bonfire. At this point, she was ready to jump into it head first just to know heat again.

She took a few tentative steps towards the window, just close enough for her to reach out and feel the chill of the glass through the thick of her mitten. The soft thud of her boots against the carpet and rustle of her thick jacket were nearly to faint to hear, swallowed up almost immediately by the sound vacuum that had stolen the sound of her own presence. The very window shuddered under her fingertips, as though it had come alive and experienced something unpleasant. She shifted backwards quickly, eyes widening at the rippling glass.

Sarah opened her mouth to speak, but could find nothing to say. After all, she figured words weren't worth speaking unless there was someone there to hear them. The silence would swallow them up anyways.

But there was something oddly compelling about the shuddering window and the impossibility of it all. Sarah was a child of logic and reason now… and there was no place for fear when there were so many answers in the world.

But that Sarah had fallen in the snow and she had taken reason with her. The same reason that would have advised Sarah not to remove her gloves and test the glass once more with bare hands. Again, it shuddered, more violently this time. The light from the world outside grew stronger and she didn't really care where it came from. The darkness was thinning as the glass grew more agitated with each touch. By now, she felt as though she had been working tirelessly on a vital puzzle. The answer had to be found and fast. She was certain of that. What remained unknowable was the reason for her obsession with it and the raw need to overcome it. Like pushing through a forest, desperate for a clearing. There had to be something beyond the thick of the shadows. There was more beneath her palms than just tempered glass and a window pane.

There was an escape.

There was air and sound and light and relief for every ache and pain she carried. It screamed promises and she cried out for them.

" _Now_!!!", she screamed as she balled both hands into fists and slammed them against the window. It could have been the force of the blow that did it, or perhaps the sound of her voice as it destroyed the ravenous silence that shattered the wide sheet of glass (which was considerably less likely), but there was no explanation for the complete annihilation of the very wall it lay in. Shards of glass and splinters of wood filled the air, caught in a gust that whirled them about in circles until it came round and blew them over the precipice. It all began to crumble, even the very floor she stood upon unraveled and gave way, sending Sarah into a free fall.

Sarah could feel her heart at the back of her throat as gravity took control of her. The darkness around her evaporated, revealing a distant light that fought to burn through an overcast sky. Through the thick brown hair that whipped at her eyes, she caught the glimmer of the light through each tiny window shard.

It was as though there had been a sigh in time, for everything slowed in its fall.

She felt like she was falling through stars, gazing at each glowing piece with such unbridled awe that she couldn't breathe for fear of disturbing perfection. For that moment, in all its simplicity, was worth an eternity.

-----

Not quite an eternity later, Sarah began to fall again with the proper velocity. The air got steadily warmer and the ground a good deal closer. She connected with said ground split seconds later and found herself tumbling down a hillside that simply didn't seem to want to level out. The down in her jacket offered just enough padding as she rolled over various small rocks and other debris. At least, she assumed they were rocks. There wasn't really a way to tell and she doubted it mattered much. Everything felt the same when it collided with her ass.

She came to a gradual stop as the hill began to even out. Sarah had to pause a minute to fight off the dizziness before she made an attempt to stand up. So, she decided to play it safe first and gingerly rolled onto her back, propping herself up with her elbows so her back was just slightly off the ground. When her eyes finally focused, her heart skipped a beat in her chest and her stomach cringed painfully. The land beneath her was little more than dirt and a few sparse patches of thin grass, but before her lay a crackling, rain-starved tundra. It appeared to stretch out for miles until a wide… oddly-jutting structure broke the monotony of the flatland. The sky was just as overcast as it had been during her fall, but she could remember nothing of any settlements or… monuments.

There wasn't room for panic. Panic only happens when there's enough fear to fuel it and Sarah felt drained of just about all of it. She could still experience shock and surprise… even disbelief, but there was no place for terror anymore. After all, the only real great fear was death and she had this strange feeling… as though dying simply wasn't an issue anymore. Perhaps it had been dealt with already.

_Am I dead, then? _She mused to herself, oddly calm about the possibility of it. It was likely. It would explain the gap between falling in the snow and arriving in her room. Maybe that hadn't been her room at all, but simply a gate to… to this.

Sarah stood up and stumbled forward, gasping at the sharp sting in her hands. She turned those hands over, eyeing the thin red cuts in her palms that slowly oozed blood into the wrinkles of her skin. Sarah dabbed at them with alternating fingers, coming away with tiny red blotches on her fingertips.

"No… not dead", she spoke aloud more for the sake of hearing her own voice than anything. The pain was real enough and she sounded quite tangible. Sarah was fairly sure that sensations had no place in death… at least physical ones. She began to walk and discovered more little pains and bruises that she didn't remember feeling in her room, which helped to chase away the idea of being dead. The more she felt, the more convinced she became that was actually alive and breathing.

And she was still cold. The bone chattering chill that had set in during her struggles in the snow had set and didn't seem to be abating. She drew her coat tighter around her, clinging to the down for warmth. Sarah drew up the hood and found that both efforts offered little relief from the deep-set cold.

"Got to find shelter and get a fire going," she told herself as her eyes settled on the only habitable-looking thing in the distance. It seemed to be comprised mostly of walls for several miles with few notable buildings poking up above them. At least ones that she could see. Maybe there were smaller houses within, some too short to be seen over the wall.

Sarah turned around to retrace her fall down the hill as she sought to get higher ground. Hopefully, she'd be able to see something more promising at a better angle. Those few feet gave her just enough perspective and showed her the pointed tip or a rather large… thing. Well, she assumed it was a building, but the architecture wasn't like anything she had seen before. Of course, the distance wasn't going to make identifying it any easier. She had no idea what exactly lay beyond the great walls, but knew that just about anything beyond the imposing barrier would serve her better than this desolate flatland.

She found a steady pace and kept at it, satisfied that she'd cover enough ground at her current speed. It was difficult to tell how much daylight she had left thanks to the thickly overcast sky. The clouds seemed to be growing darker in almost every direction, save for her destination. Her face fell at the mere thought of another storm. Snow, rain, hail… precipitation of any kind was not her friend today. Maybe never again. She widened her stride, determined to beat whatever the sky had planned for her. Much to her surprise, she appeared to be making pretty damn good time. She could already make out a few gnarled trees in the distance and several wide arches. It took a good deal of effort not to just sprint ahead, but Sarah had a feeling her endurance wouldn't last if she pushed herself too hard, too fast. Warmth still eluded her, despite the fact she was traveling in a heavy winter jacket and padded snow boots. She badly needed a fire. Oh, so badly. No way in hell she was going to just fuck around and get pneumonia.

That should have been the least of her worries.

There was no door. There were arches, and beautifully crafted ones at that. They stood a few yards in front of the wall… all three of them. Each base had a gargoyle-type creature carved into it, just barely visible beneath the thick vines that had long since taken them over. They stood side by side, serving no purpose other than looking pretty.

Little good _that _did anyone.

"Well, this is… awesome," Sarah muttered as she rubbed the back of her neck. This was in no way promising and only added to her growing agitation. The sky was growing darker and she still hadn't found a refuge.

"Bah, speak for yourself," something gurgled beside her. She spun on her heel with a start, but couldn't find a speaker. Her eyes settled on a rather large chunk of stone with a thick layer of moss lining the surface. Atop it sat a fat bull frog, throat puffing slowly. Sarah gave the frog a good hard stare before looking back at the arches.

"Great. I've absolutely fucking lost it," she sighed, resigning herself to insanity as she glanced back at the frog.

But the frog opened its mouth and croaked, "Well, you certainly look it. I've never seen such ridiculous trousers."

Another frog climbed up from behind the rock to sit upright beside the other, "And you'd do well to watch your mouth, miss. That's no way for a lady to speak and mental instability is no excuse."

Frog number three appeared in a graceless heap on the ground as it rolled up and over the boulder, bumping into a disgruntled frog number one as it did so. It croaked as it struggled to right itself, then chirped at Sarah, "Oi, don't mind these old sods. They're no much more than a pile o' warts these days."

A chorus of ribbits filled the air as they three bickered among themselves, leaving Sarah with agape and in no little state of shock. Once the squabble died down and each voice grew more distinct, frog number one grumbled loudly.

"She isn't even supposed to be here!" he puffed up indignantly. Frog number two chimed it, "That's quite right. If she was meant to be here, the game would have begun already. I say, send her away!"

The third frog remained firm, though outnumbered, "Ye old lumps dinna have clue, do ye? She's already finished it an' she's back for more. I say if she wants a way in, we oblige her. I'm no about to refuse the lass and you'd be in verra poor form if ye didna do the same."

One and two sat quietly for a minute. The second inflated slowly in what Sarah somehow figured was a frog shrug. It croaked at number one, "If what he says is true, then we can't very well stop her."

Number one shook himself and grunted defiantly, "I'm telling you, if she was supposed to be here, she'd have begun at the front just like everybody else."

"Back door, front door, cellar door, it doesna matter to me. I've told ye already, she's no everybody else. I canna tell ye why she'd be here in the first place, but she wants in and that's all that counts, aye? Aye."

When no reply came from the first two, frog number three turned to Sarah and said, "Alright, ye've our permission to pass."

Sarah had to take a moment to find that her mouth did indeed work. She had been a little too fascinated by the display to make any interjections. In any case, she figured it would be pointless to ask the creatures how they could speak. After all Sarah didn't even know how to answer that kind of question, short of entering into a long evolution explanation. And that would be boring. Very fucking boring.

"Pass? Pass what? There's just a wall", Sarah replied, her patience waning.

The first frog snorted while the third frog shot him what was probably a reproachful look, since number one went silent shortly after. Frog eyes were hard to read.

"Through the arches. They all lead to specific parts of the Labyrinth, but ye can only know where they go if ye've been through them before. Otherwise, they'll take ye wherever they wish," the third frog leapt forward, indicating the archways before her.

Sarah wasn't quite sure she had heard right. Or rather, she was hoping she had been mistaken.

"Labyrinth? You mean like a maze?" she asked of the frog.

Frog number two let out a shrill croak that Sarah figured was a laugh, "Hah! A maze? You've never been in a labyrinth before, have you?"

Sarah shook her head, "It's just a really big maze, isn't it? By definition, at least."

Number one groaned, "If it was just a big maze, there wouldn't be a need for calling it a labyrinth. You'd call it a 'really big maze', wouldn't you? Really, calling a labyrinth a maze is like calling a zebra a horse. Both words hardly do either justice. Miss, this particular Labyrinth is a great deal more than just a simple maze."

"Alright, alright," Sarah sighed, "It's a Labyrinth. Huge difference, yeah. Okay, so these gates are going to take me where they _want _to go because I don't know where they're _going_ to go?"

Frog number three nodded, "Aye. Once ye pick an arch, ye can't return here. They're all one-way arches, ye see."

Sarah frowned, "If they're one way, how is it possible to come back and take them properly? You know, when you actually know where they lead?"

All three frogs "shrugged" simultaneously. Sarah looked at each arch and found a serious issue.

"You know these don't actually lead anywhere, right? There's a wall. A wall to nowhere," she said to the frog trio.

Frog three sighed, "Ye look too hard, lass. This is the south end o' the Labyrinth. It's more magic than logic here. Just pick an arch and let it do the rest."

Oh yeah, that sealed the deal. Magic arches made so much more sense than non-magic arches. She should have figured it out sooner. She made a mental note to see about getting some magic arches once she got back home. You know, after she met up with the tooth fairy and purchased a unicorn. A purple one, hopefully. Yeah right.

"So, you mean to tell me that walking through this archway, this very _magical_ archway…" Sarah asked sarcastically as she approached the middle arch, placing a hand against the carved stone as she started to pass through, "… wouldn't lead me into that very non-magical wall, but rather some place I've never been befo-"

The second Sarah had passed completely beneath the stony archway, she was gone. The labyrinth wall remained very much intact and outwardly non-magical. Each frog took its place atop the mossy rock, staring silently for a while at the now-empty archway as their throats puffed in unison.

Number one croaked, "Hmph. Bloody teenagers. Can't even respect a proper Labyrinth."

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_NEED J00R COMMENTS N STUFFS!_


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